Petrol Powered Remote Control Off Road Car

[RichP]

Morning all

I'm thinking of getting a petrol powered remote control car for my kids (honest…..!), but I know nothing about them. It needs to be "off road" in design as it'll be used in a playing field and on dirt tracks. I'd prefer something we can build between us so they learn a bit about how cars go together. I have two boys - 9 & 7 years old - who pick things up pretty quickly, so something that would keep their interest for a few years.

So, any experience / advice appreciated

Cheers

Rich

[RichP]

Bump - I thought this would be sure to start a debate! Wrong time of year perhaps? Busy using the real thing!

[DAVE.B]

Do you mean petrol or glowplug engine? Glowplug will be around 2.5 -3.5cc and 1/8 -1/10 scale approx whilst petrol will be 23-30cc and 1/5-1/6 scale. The petrol engined ones are very reliable, but not a toy as they are very quick and heavy, nearly 2 foot long.

I prefer the petrol ones but they are not cheap and you would have to supervise every time it was used.

On a personal note i would recommend a German kit like the Marder or Baja made by FG.

Dont expect this to be cheap hobby as the upgrades you can get are incredible.

Have a look on the web fo FG and on ebay (radio control).

[brindle]

Do you mean petrol or glowplug engine? Glowplug will be around 2.5 -3.5cc and 1/8 -1/10 scale approx whilst petrol will be 23-30cc and 1/5-1/6 scale. The petrol engined ones are very reliable, but not a toy as they are very quick and heavy, nearly 2 foot long.

I prefer the petrol ones but they are not cheap and you would have to supervise every time it was used.

On a personal note i would recommend a German kit like the Marder or Baja made by FG.

Dont expect this to be cheap hobby as the upgrades you can get are incredible.

Have a look on the web fo FG and on ebay (radio control).

Also find a space in your garage for it to gather dust after 2 months of having it.  Oh yes and upgrading it.  Its much cheaper than the westy so seems a bargain.  £15 for anti roll bars you say? I'll take them!!

Top fun and even though it WILL go on that shelf, about every year - normally when a niece / neohew visits it comes out for a week.

Oh and it WILL break each time you use it too!!

[langy]

I used to race 1/8th rallycross many moons ago. The whole set up, kit, engine, starter, radio gear, servos, fuel cast nearly £1000 and that was 10+ years ago. If you ever start racing then as with every competative hobby, it gets expensive.

I'm a bit out of the scene now, but I think a lot of the kits are Ready to Run (RTR). A quick Google reveals that the club which myself and a friend started TRCCC is fairly well established and has been going for nearly 21 years (god I feel old) and has a review of a 1/8th Rallycross kit.

I guess the question is, how much do you want to spend ?

The 1/8th scale engines 3.5cc tend to be a bit more reliable and you are more likely to get one in kit for rather that RTR.

With you lads being 7 and 9, I would personally introduce them to 1/10 electric, it'll be cheaper for you and they can start them racing at your local club (this one might suit) to get the hang of things.

Don't know what model shops are in your area, but it might be worth paying them a visit and having a chat with them.

HTH.

[Guest]

i flew glow engine model aircraft for about 5 years

the best shop i have been to for aircraft and cars were up in leeds yorkshire  at crossgates

dont know were you are mate

[Mark (smokey mow)]

I'm in agreement with langy and brindle, and would suggest buying something that could be raced at a nearby local club.  After a few months the novelty of racing around the local park will wear off and the neighbours will tire of the constant buzzing from the IC engine.  

I got my first RC car when I was 10 (a 1:10th electric Tamiya Thunder Dragon) and eventually after 6 months joined the local club with a school mate, he never went back but I met some new friends spent the next 7 years modifying, upgrading and racing buggies off road and on "wide saloons" progreesing to regional championship and then 4 years nationally in the Tamiya Eurocup.

If you get the bug propperly you can learn so much more than simply building the car and running it round the park.  To go racing you learn first hand about car geometry, set-ups and handling, spring rates, racing lines and patientience in overtanking.

I only dabbled with IC cars and have been out of the scene for several years now so I don't feel qualified to reccomend any particular manufacturer, but you've had some good advice so far, find the local shop, have a chat and maybe pop along to the local club at the weekend to watch some racing and see what's popular.

[RichP]

Thanks for all the feedback and tips - there's more to consider than I expected. Looks like petrol engined is not the way to go as I don't want anything that size, cost or speed, so it'll be electric or glowplug. I quite like the club idea as the kids might enjoy that. At least I now have some direction to start the search - many thanks.

[BigDaveUK]

I used to race 1/10 electric touring cars, and have had many nitro(glowplug) buggies for messing about with, IMO if its a first car for the kids, electric is the way to go, they will get bored very quick when the engine floods or wont start etc etc... i know i did!!

as long as you get a few sets of batteries so they arent waiting for them to charge, the plug n play electric should keep them interested for longer, and certainly arent slow!

as others have said this hobby, much like the big boy's toy in your garage, is a never ending money pit!

enjoy!

Dave.

[Carl]

I've got a Nitro Truck (Traxxas) for my 4 yr old to play with  

It's great fun but the engine is very sensitive to tuning and setting. It's not really plug and play, I doubt kids could do it on there own.

[Hammy]

I'd buy from a googd model shop and check spares availability -which may be far more important than price !

[dombanks]

kyosho or hobao are a good place for 1/8scale buggies, i think mine was a rtr - ready to roll - thing you just needed to do the decals and put the wheels on ..

I have an original hyper-7 mine and was pretty indestructable you could crash it and it usually survived with just bumps and scratches, tyres on raods wore out very quickly but on gravel/grass were great. i did go for a set of road stylee tyres but they were pants Itwas very noisy and needed a large space to play with it in. The construction of the hyper 7 was half aloy bits and half really rugged plastc if IRC i broke the cast turn nuckles so replaced with cnc ali ones and thats been about it. last time out (2yrs ago) i was jumping it over a ramp made out of the boot lid of my saloon mondeo at full tilt for 40 mins or so and it survived unscathed.

[RICHARD+PHILIP]

Another vote for joining a club. most clubs have specific racing classes so pop down to your local club to see what they are racing before you commit to buying a car

If you happen to live in sussex area my local is Horsham radio control car club

www.horshamrc.org

this is the link for the British radio car association

http://www.brca.org/

they have a list of clubs

Electric cars and off road buggies have come along way in the last few years now we are using Lithium polymer batteries and brushless motors. they are quiet so don't upset the neighbours, reliable no stupid pull cords or starter boxes to lug around. and fast